Discovery of Insulin

In the past Type 1 diabetes always resulted in death usually quite quickly.

In 1889 Oskar Minkowski in Germany formulated the hypothesis that a substance in the pancreas must regulate metabolism, somehow preventing the formation of diabetes.

In 1921 the Canadian scientists Frederick G. Banting, Charles H, Best, J. J. R Macleod and James B. Collip extracted insulin from the islets of animal pancreas.

It is remains one of the most dramatic achievements in the history of medicine.

In 1924 the first studies on insulin inhalation were published by Laqueur and Grevenstuk of their investigation on intratracheal administration.

James B. Collip, a biochemist later was able to purify the extract in his own laboratory.

Commercial production of insulin was under way in 1992.

The first human to be treated with insulin was a 14 year old boy, Leonard Thomson, in Canada in the year 1922. His recovery was remarkable and immediate.

In the 1930s, and 1940s, it was recognized that crystallization of insulin with zinc and combination with the cationic protein protamine resulted in prolongation of insulin action, leading to the commercial availability of intermediate acting insulin.
Discovery of Insulin